With just two weeks before the 2022 NFL Draft, the Eagles have clearly been doing their homework on some of the top receivers in this year’s class.
Just this week, the Eagles had Alabama’s Jameson Williams and Ohio State’s Chris Olave, both projected first-rounders, at the NovaCare Complex for top 30 visits.
If the Eagles draft a receiver in the first round, it would mark the third consecutive draft with a first-round wideout coming to Philadelphia. But given their need at the position and the rising salaries of veteran receivers this offseason (the Eagles were outbid for some of the top free agents) it would make plenty of sense for them to go back to the draft.
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SIGN UP HERE ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., one of the most respected draft analysts in the nation, recently put out a new mock draft and had the Eagles’ taking Olave with the No. 15 pick.
When asked on a national conference call on Thursday about potential trade-up targets for the Eagles, Kiper went to the receiver position first.
“Jameson Williams is going to be a wild card. I love the kid,” Kiper said. “The ACL, everybody talks about teams moving up to get him now and [ESPN’s Chris Mortensen] was talking about him in the top 10. So it depends upon how they feel about Jameson Williams as compared to, say, a Chris Olave, who you could probably get at 15 without moving up.
“And then Drake London coming off the fractured ankle. He hasn’t run with the clock. How do they feel about him? Garrett Wilson if you want to move up into the top 6, 7, you can get him ahead of Atlanta if he doesn’t 4 to the Jets. How do they feel about those receivers?”
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When asked about this class as a whole, Kiper said that none of these receivers will have a grade as high as DeVonta Smith, Jaylen Waddle or JaMarr Chase, who all went in the top 10 in the 2021 draft.
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Of this year’s receivers, Kiper thinks if Williams hadn’t torn his ACL in the National Championship Game, he might have been the one to get a grade like those top players last year. So if the Eagles are able to get him outside of the top 10 — by either staying at 15 or with a modest trade up — it would represent some pretty good value. As long as they’re willing to take on the risk.
Williams (6-1, 179) transferred from Ohio State after the 2020 season and had a monster 2021 with 79 catches for 1,572 yards and 15 touchdowns. Williams, who averaged 19.9 yards per catch last year, would give the Eagles an electric deep threat.
“I think they could maybe get [Williams] at 15,” Kiper said. “But they have to wait until October, November until he’s back at 100 percent, which isn’t that bad. If you get him in October, if he’s ahead of schedule, which they say he is, if he’s in October, you’re getting him by mid-season. That would pretty doggone good for a kid that would have been top five, top 10 pick guaranteed if he had been healthy and not gotten hurt in that National Championship Game.”